Eagles QB Nick Foles sets records at the same high school as Saints QB Drew Brees, but in some ways doesn't want to be exactly like him.

PHILADELPHIA — — They came through the same Texas high school 10 years apart, and both were promoted to full-time starting quarterbacks in their second years in the NFL.

But that's where Nick Foles of the Philadelphia Eagles hopes the comparisons with the elder Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints ends.

Foles, 24, who will cross career paths with Brees, 34, for the first time in tonight's wildcard-round playoff game (8:10 p.m., NBC), certainly doesn't want to wait as long as Brees did to taste postseason glory.

Brees needed six years and a change of teams to get his first playoff win, then three more years to get his second. Foles is hoping that the change in coaches the Eagles made after his rookie season last year will be enough to get those before the month is out.

Foles, a relative newbie who's risen to fame almost overnight as the second choice of new coach Chip Kelly, vs. Brees, a dues-paying veteran who's had to overcome more than half a decade of adversity to synchronize himself with perhaps the greatest and most daring offensive play caller of his generation — head coach Sean Payton.

Of all the storylines in tonight's contest, that is the most important and the most popular in this quarterback-driven league.

Brees has reached the point in his career where anything less than a 5,000-yard passing season would be a disappointment. He's completed 446 of 650 attempts this season for 5,162 yards and 39 touchdowns against just 12 interceptions. It was his third straight 5,000-yard season.

As good as Brees was, Foles (203-for-317, 2,891 yards, 27 TDs, two interceptions, 119.2 passer rating) might have been better in his 10 starts and three relief appearances.

Yet that should not be a surprise, considering every passing record Brees established at Westlake High in the 1990s was shattered by Foles in the 2000s.

Now Foles might be able to trump the Hall-of-Fame-bound Brees in a much more important category if he can continue to play out of his mind and almost out of his body, as he's done with very few exceptions since replacing the injured Michael Vick in an early October game against the New York Giants.

The irony is that if he does, he'll have Brees to thank for providing a role model and a whole lot of inspiration.

"When he's out there, he's a warrior," Foles said. "He fires that thing. You know, the throws he makes, there's not many guys that can make the throws he makes. You can just tell with his intensity when he plays the game ... I think he's an underrated athlete, he's a tremendous athlete

"... I think you can just see his leadership, and that's something I always looked up to him as. I think he's a great guy, great quarterback. But on and off the field he's the same guy, and I respect that about him."

Brees and Payton have the kind of mutual vision and imagination required to run an NFL offense at the highest level.

"I think one thing that Sean does, he just always seems to get the right matchups," Kelly raved. "He's obviously got some talent and there's a really, really talented football team. But Sean does a great job of getting his playmakers in matchups that are favorable to him, and he does it week-in and week-out.

"There's a consistency to it, and I think they missed him a year ago [when he sat out a season-long suspension] and now that he's back, they seem like they picked up where they left off. I think how well him and Drew work together is a pretty special thing to watch."

Kelly and Foles are not at that level yet, but they're getting there awfully fast, scary fast. And it could be argued that they are getting there faster than any combo in history.

Foles brings exactly one full season's worth of starts (16 games) and four more appearances into tonight's contest and has accumulated numbers (33 TD passes, seven interceptions, 4,590 passing yards, 101.0 passer rating) equivalent to or better than the best in the game at their peak.

But none of them — Brees, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Joe Montana, Dan Marino et al — were so efficient and productive so quickly, without having to pay the kinds of dues that Foles has so far amazingly managed to avoid.

"Every week I feel like we are getting more and more comfortable and the coaches are getting more and more comfortable with us," Foles said. "They have an idea of what we're good at and what we can do as an offense. It's been fun to be a part of it and to see everybody grow week to week, and we'll continue to grow.

"I'm always about growing and getting better each and every day."

Especially if it means getting to the magic level 10 times faster than his peers.

But for Foles, there is no ultimate level. His plan is to keep pushing no matter what the results.

"I don't think there will be a certain time while I'm playing this game that I'll be satisfied," he said. "I don't think that you can be satisfied with anything that you do in life in general. I think that's when you sort of get lackadaisical and then you slip up."